Saturday 28 May 2011

Test your knowledge of the Framework Convention

Light blogging day today. I decided to do this test on tobacco control issues and the Framework Convention. Scoring 3/10 on the first attempt, I took the test again and persevered until I reached no right answers at all. It's the only sane response. The first question asks whether it is 'ok' to have smoking rooms in bars and restaurants. The answer, taken from Article 8 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, concludes 'there is no safe level of secondary smoke and notions such as a threshold value of toxicity from second-hand smoke should be rejected'. No reason is given for this command to leave common sense at the door. Anything that doesn't kill on impact has a safe level, and people can be exposed to secondary smoke for decades without ill effects. Another question asks if tobacco advertising is acceptable if it doesn't glamourise tobacco. Answer no: advertising is an attempt to normalise tobacco use. Actually, it's an attempt to sell specific brands of tobacco. The product is legal. Normalisation is a given. Any advertising wishes to make its product a household name, like fairy liquid or After Eights.

The test goes on to check the participants' knowledge of the Framework Convention's version of tobacco control wisdom, using a 'true or false' model. Expect a high score if you see the world through the same lens as the Framework Convention – driven by ideology and impervious to common sense.

3 comments:

George Speller said...

That is so scary. I did the same thing and was consistently "wrong". What they are doing here is to present opinion as fact.
Everest is the tallest mountain in the world - TRUE and VERIFIABLE
Tobacco manufactures should work with health agencies - FALSE BECAUSE WE SAY SO.

Making it a quiz seems to desiguise the speculative and opinionated qaulity of the "facts"

JJ said...

I scored 2/10...but I knew I could do better, so I went back for another go. Guess what? I did great!

My second score was a big fat ZERO!

Anonymous said...

I got 1/10.
The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control resulting in the persecution of smokers worldwide, has to be the ugliest treaty ever written.